Rah Rah

Saturday was the first basketball game for Upwards...Riley had a great time cheering for the teams!! Games are at 9am, 10am and 11am, and her's was the first, of course, but we made it in time and Annie behaved herself, sort of, and watched the game, sort of! Luckily, there is a room to the side of the gym, so she spent some time climbing the steps and walking on a little stage, but she was good for the most part.

Riley did great- they are so cute, and so are the little b-ball players....enjoy the photos. I have some video, too, that I will try to get uploaded tonight if the laptop co-operates!

Cheerleading

Did I tell you that Riley is now a cheerleader? No? Yup- she started a few weeks ago, and knows a few cheers now. She received her uniform last week- it is orange and deep blue (she calls it purple) and very cute....she even got pom-poms and a megaphone, which Riley and Annie have both enjoyed over the week! She has practice on Monday nights, although this week her coach was sick, so she has practice tonight instead. Her first game is Saturday- stay tuned for pictures and video!!

What happened to my baby?

So, Annie has officially moved to the Toddler Room at school. They told us that she would be slowly transitioning in January, so I assumed that meant that she would spend some time in there each day starting the first week, and maybe by the end of the week, stay the whole day. Well, when Todd dropped her off on Monday morning, I guess all of the new babies who were taking her place arrived at the same time and the teachers were a little overwhelmed...and at the same time, there were no kids in the toddler room, so it just made sense to have Annie just start the day in there....and then she never left!

Luckily, she was somewhat familiar with the teachers in the Toddler Room already because she had been playing on the big kids playground for a few months. Todd said the first day, she went right in and started playing and didn't really even realize he had left. The second day, it was a little more traumatic- she cried a bit and wasn't too happy with him!

I was mostly worried about her sleeping- in the baby room she slept in a crib- here, she needed to sleep on a mat! But, I asked the first day and they said she had no problem- she went right to sleep...although she did wake earlier than the kids usually do- seems she only slept about 45 minutes....yep, that is my Annie! Today they told me she slept better- about 90 minutes, so she is getting it!

Now our only problem is the grumpies....she is so tired at the end of the day, she grumps the whole way home...throws a fit in the cafeteria when I pick up Riley....grumps through dinner and generally is driving.me.crazy!!!! But, hopefully this is temporary and will abate as she gets used to everything....please, please, please get better soon :)

Christmas Eve

I spent much of the day baking and cooking and Todd spent the day cleaning :) We met Grams and Gramps and Mimi and Papa at church for 4 o'clock mass (Donnie- if you are reading this- we went to church!!!)...and then everyone came over afterwards for appetizers. As usual, I made WAY too much food...we just finished the last of it this weekend!

Riley and Annie opened their new pajamas, and then they opened a book from Nannie and Poppie that they recorded for the girls- Twas the Night Before Christmas, which has now been played over and over and over, until they almost broke it and then I had to take the batteries out!

Annie was pooped, so I put her to bed, and Todd and Riley set out some milk and homemade and decorated by Riley cookies and then we all went off to bed to dream about sugar plums.....

Snow!

A few weeks ago, we actually had a bit of snow here in South Carolina...by a bit I mean about an inch at our house! But, Gramps and Gramps live about 20 minutes further north, and they got about three inches. We happened to be cleaning the house that day, so when Grams asked the girls and I to come up and play, I quickly packed them up and left Todd to the cleaning (he does a much better job than I do, and it is much easier without me and the girls around anyway!!)....we had a good time...Annie was a little unsure at first, but she had a ball. As you can see, we had to improvise a bit with the sled, but it worked just as well!!

Goodbye 2009...

It has been a good year at the Hildebrand's....Riley graduated from one school and started kindergarten....Annie did a lot of growing! She is now a walking, talking toddler with her own opinions....Todd lost a job and got a new one....I started off the year with a new official promotion, and while it has not been the best year for us at the college, we are starting the new year on a good class (hopefully) and lots of momentum....

I wish you all, my three loyal readers, a very Happy New Year....from our home to yours.....